


Bittersweet Nightshade

by sweetiegeek



Series: Nightshade [1]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 04:11:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18275522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetiegeek/pseuds/sweetiegeek
Summary: You appeared as if you use all of your lifetimesOn chasing meBut now I'm looking back at you, moving closerAnd you step backwardAll I have to do is to catch youBefore you start sprintingLike a mad man





	Bittersweet Nightshade

**Author's Note:**

> BEFORE you continue, please read this!
> 
> This work is a fruit of my unstoppable daydreams. Every time I read a story, I always ended up stopping halfway and daydreamed the ending or the path I wished to happen. So this please expect something that didn't make sense along the story. I also use this story for practicing my writing skills in terms of vocabulary and familiarize with the spelling (obvs, it isn't my native language). So I really didn't think it through regarding the plot or ending. Please do comment to your heart content. You could be as harsh as you want as long as it could help me to keep improving. I wouldn't mind... or I'd try. 
> 
> I will post this story under different character, and title on Wattpad somewhere along the time. 
> 
> For the story itself, it was kind of normal, I didn't put any triggering context on the story, at least that's what I believe. If there is something that triggers you, please mention it. I accepted the fact that I am ignorant of several things. 
> 
> Lastly, sorry for the rants and please do enjoy the story!
> 
> Cheers,  
> Charls

“Hhh~” Kihyun sighed. It was a morning with clear a and bright blue sky in the office so Kihyun reasoned it would be a perfect choice to see the sky through the window. It was partially true, except Kihyun would do this at this exact time regardless of the weather outside.

“Kihyun, stop making noises. It’s weird.” Hyungwon, his co-worker said, unamused. He said that but eyes still fixated on his computer screen.

“Blame him and his amazingness,” said Kihyun dreamily making his co-worker turned his head and showed disgusted face.

“Way too corny, you need to stop that.” Hyungwon said as he shifted his attention back to his work, “ you are staying with him anyway.” he muttered.

“But seeing him entering the office is another one thing.”

“Why don’t you go here together anyway? That way too weird you know.”

“As I told you, seeing him from afar is my own satisfaction,” Kihyun said as he smiled and went back to his seat when Hyunwoo, his lover that drew his attention earlier, going out of his sight.

Hyungwon knew too well that his friend’s reasoning was bullshit. He knew that Kihyun wouldn’t go together with Hyunwoo was actually because Kihyun thought exposing their relationship would only bring disaster to Hyunwoo. He knew that but he chose to argue no further. He would be lost anyway since Kihyun wouldn’t listen to him.

Yoo Kihyun, 25 years old, worked as the risk manager for ST company together. Currently dating his COO, Hyunwoo, which only known by his (only) friend, Hyungwon. It was hard to keep up with Kihyun’s personality, according to Hyungwon who knew Kihyun more than Kihyun himself. That partially explained why many people chose to avoid him in this office.

Kihyun lied way too often for his own sake. Even he couldn’t distinguish his own lies and the truths. But Hyungwon could see through him like an open book. Deep down, Kihyun was only a person who had very low self-esteem. He was insecure about everything about him. He kept blaming himself and always put others above himself. It bothered Hyungwon at most. But he succeeded in making an awful image for himself. He was known as the most troublesome, annoying, overconfident, and flirtatious. That was the reason he didn’t have many friends.

His thoughts were halted as he caught noises from outside. Kihyun scoffed at that.

“Hyunwoo needs to stop drawing attention,” Kihyun muttered, sulking.

“You need to start marking him.” Kihyun sighed in defeat upon hearing that. Not getting any verbal response, Hyungwon continued, “You know he was a very attractive man, which up til now I still can’t understand, so of course people will always gnawing on him as long as he is a single man.” Hyungwon emphasized.

“Why don’t you pretend to date-”

“Don’t you fucking dare come up with that idea!”

“-him so no one will approach him?” Kihyun ignored Hyungwon. He turned his seat and scooted closer to Hyungwon with begging eyes and look as if he came up with the brightest idea. Hyungwon gave him a blank look.

“I mean, you’re not attracted to him, you are handsome, and people will back away.” Kihyun smiled.

“Why don’t you, who are his lover, which mean really dating him, come out to people that you are dating him?” Hyungwon stressed out his words. And of course, Kihyun despised that idea the most. He wouldn’t ever expose their relationship to people. He wouldn’t want Hyunwoo to experience any degradation from other people just because he was dating a guy. Kihyun huffed at that and back to his seat, leaving Hyungwon half upset.

The office was like any other open-space kind of company. The purpose was so they would work creatively, and able to socialize with other division so they would be a better and friendly hierarchy amongst people. However, for Kihyun, that was the most stupid idea ever invested. It was very distracting which often resulted in less productivity and ineffectiveness. People were communicating way too much. Kihyun would accidentally hear very disturbing information and sometimes an unneeded complaint both related and unrelated to the jobs. Some of the times it just shared too much hatred. The employees in his team just way too much reflecting a two-faced evil. Such a sucker, for real.

So that irritation finally resulted in a rather big ruckus once, or to be exact Kihyun purposely raised a commotion with the other workers. He then requested a secluded place which formerly used for discussion for breaks (cozy and such but away from the office necessities) and said he needed one person. Hyungwon happened to be favorable and known as someone who could withstand Kihyun's behavior while in fact, Hyungwon simply needed me-time all the time.

Their office was one floor away from the other team. They could work separately from the other workers because they were the end of the chain in the team. The final decision was made by Kihyun as Hyungwon was assigned to assist him in collecting the paperwork. To be said, Kihyun’s position himself was notably high.

There were no other workers that went to this floor regularly. It was actually designed for people to do their job in break time, or for team discussion. There was 6 room with transparent glass, around 40 desks with separation for people who liked working alone, and 4 semi-room in every corner, usually for discussion that didn’t need a projector or was not exactly confidential. One of the rooms in each corner was finally claimed by Kihyun and Hyungwon. They were allowed to get a separation wall to ‘close’ the room.

Kihyun couldn’t ask more than that to be honest. It was already a good thing that this office needed Kihyun’s quick-witted and genius brain way too much to address his behavior as an issue.

\---

It was break time and Hyungwon decided to use that time to get a beauty sleep, or so he said. Kihyun, on the other side, was, of course, decided to use the precious time to meet up with his boyfriend. His 12 days boyfriend. Yes, today was his 12th day dating Hyunwoo. It was still felt so unreal for Kihyun to be able to date Hyunwoo. A Hyunwoo. A someone. A very handsome, stunning man, smart, funny, dork, a complete package (according to Kihyun). A straight guy, to boot. Kihyun felt like his luck was all spent, not that he would complain though.

Hyunwoo earlier messaged him that they would meet up on the rooftop. Kihyun brought their bento and decided to buy a drink for both of them before proceed his way to the rooftop. The rooftop was almost always empty. Except sometimes girls would purposefully follow Hyunwoo upstairs. And Hyunwoo just way too soft to reject them. That or because Kihyun wouldn't let him being open with their relationship so Hyunwoo wouldn't have any excuses to reject them. He was just throwing tantrum, Kihyun knew.

Anyway, to get the key, you had to do a long procedure, or you can get it if you were happened to be friend with the son of head company and the understanding one to boot. Shin Hoseok, or also known as Wonho, was the one and only son of the owner of this ST company and he was Hyunwoo best friend. That what we called Jackpot.

Kihyun opened the rooftop door and greeted by Hyunwoo’s smile. He automatically smiled and practically skipped his way to Hyunwoo. Kihyun chose the crooked place beside the wall just in case someone came in, they could hide. Hyunwoo didn’t care and just followed the younger.

“Kihyun-ah,” Hyunwoo started when they both seated already. Kihyun hummed as he prepared their lunch box.

“I told Wonho about us,” Hyunwoo said monotonously, trying to sound nonchalant while his eyes observing Kihyun’s every little movement like a hawk. If it wasn't because of the amount of attention he put to the smaller guy in front of him, he wouldn't even notice that Kihyun got tensed up and stopped for a split second.

Kihyun could felt that Hyunwoo’s eyes were staring straight at him, piercing him with his intent gaze. He knew Hyunwoo was studying him to catch even a glimpse of his reaction. Therefore, he tried to brush it off and pretended he was unaffected, which was a vain knowing Hyunwoo caught it anyway.

“And then?” Kihyun answered, trying to sound light despite his cracked voice simply betrayed him. He then gave one of the lunch boxes to Hyunwoo to cover up any kind of tension resulted from the debate he had now with his brain.

“He was okay with that.” Hyunwoo said as he took his share, “bon appetit,” he mumbled and digging his food after Kihyun hummed, starting to sound relaxed.

“Mhm… that’s good.” Kihyun finally smiled and his body loosened. His eyes formed a crescent when he smiled genuinely. It felt like a heavy burden was almost suffocated him to death for not allowing him to breathe.

“He won’t tell the other right?” Kihyun said as he started eating his own share.

“Well, he said he won’t, but I don’t see the harm we came out to the public.”

“No hyung~” Kihyun cried after securely put his food on both sides of his cheeks and made it puffed out, causing him to muffled his voice. He then found speaking while eating his hard, late bloomer, surely. He chomped on his food quickly before he added, “Not many people could be an understanding person.” Kihyun said, clearly not fond of the idea, when he successfully emptied his mouth.

Hyunwoo let out a heartfelt laugh seeing that. Kihyun who nagged with puffed cheeks and scrunched nose always made Hyunwoo’s days. And that made Kihyun scrunched his nose more in dissatisfaction. Because for him scrunching his nose when he was upset was ugly and never cute.

He saw it himself.

After Hyunwoo relentlessly trying to encourage him that it was cute.

It wasn't. Really.

“Well, but even if they were against it, it doesn’t like they could fire us or something.” Hyunwoo shrugged and swallowed his food before continuing, “Wonho, the strongest person before his dad, is on our side. And you are the smartest and most valuable worker here. Everything will be fine, Ki”, he tried to convince.

“Your point?” Kihyun knew how much this conversation would go, he knew and he actually hated it to get through this kind of argumentation, yet he still asked, “What could we get after we came out to the others?”, because one way or another they would get to this point, no point in prolonging it.

“We can go to work together, we can talk easily, we can go out freely, and mostly, I can tell those girls off.” Kihyun could hear sulk from Hyunwoo’s last reason and it made him laughed, almost choked by his own saliva. Hyunwoo still frowned on that. He had to admit those girls were hella annoying. A silent and calm morning was his only hopes, and yet it was a forlorn hope.

“But hyung, you could easily wear a ring on your finger and it would shoo them off.”

“They will ask who is it.” Hyunwoo answered quickly, “And how about the other reason?” Kihyun sighed. Hyunwoo did ask him many times as to why he didn’t want to be open about this relationship. And this time Hyunwoo was in the super persistent mode. His kept frowning as if it was an easy question, why made it hard?

Kihyun had his own reason, of course, that he didn’t want to tell to anyone. Kihyun knew that he was actually no match for Hyunwoo. Moreover, everyone here despised his existence. What would the other talk about Hyunwoo if they knew Hyunwoo was dating the lowest person among them? This question led to his other question. What if Hyunwoo was actually ashamed of him? These whole questions just made him reluctant to be open

“Are you really sure, you wanted us to be open to the other?” Hyunwoo nodded beggingly. Kihyun chuckled at that. When he stopped, they looked at each other and Kihyun finally decided to give it a try, like the usual drill when Hyunwoo was pursuing something from him. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

“Promise me one thing.”

“What?” Hyunwoo asked. Kihyun looked super nervous and reluctant. So, Hyunwoo put his palm on top Kihyun hand to encourage the younger.

“We will expose it by going to work together,” Hyunwoo nodded at that, “You’re not going to spread anything except being asked,” Hyunwoo gave another nod, “If,” Kihyun paused, “If it looked bad, you have to tell them, that I flirt with you and being pushy, and you don’t actually like-”

“No!” Hyunwoo strongly rejected the idea.

“Why? They will believe it anyway, and you’ll be fine.” Kihyun frowned, it was, for him, a very good idea to avoid any unwanted event.

Hyungwoo sighed. He knew they would believe it. He knew that it was a very good idea. A very good idea for saving him from trouble and also a very good idea to make Kihyun worse in the workers' eyes. Dating Kihyun, Hyunwoo started to understand how different the true him and the person he wanted people to believe. He once despised the younger for his flirtatious behavior too. And he regretted the harsh words he ever gave to the younger.

“Then what should you do, if something goes bad?” Kihyun was still frowning, finding another way.

“We’re going to face it together, Kihyun-ah. You’re saying what should I do, what about you? What would you do?”

“Well, people despised me anyway, so why bother me? It would be fine and nothing would change.” Kihyun said nonchalantly. “And no, we’re not facing it together.” he sighed deeply, looking down.

“If something bad happened because of this relationship, then, I’m on blame.” Kihyun paused, “I’m the one who approached you. I mean, if I didn’t make any move and stay in my place, you wouldn’t come into any mess.”

What pained Hyunwoo was that self-blaming was no hint of sarcasm, sadness, or seeking of attention. Kihyun plainly thought that.

“No”, Hyunwoo pinched the bridge of his nose. Dealing with stubborn Kihyun was the hardest, “If you think like that, then I’m also on blame. If I hate you, I could just leave you alone. But I didn’t, right?” Kihyun remained silent, “I chose you. I chose to fall in love with you. I told you I like you and I am very grateful you approached me.” Kihyun’s face showed a very noticeable pinkish color thanks to his pale skin. He laughed sweetly, not a bit ashamed that his face is blushing deeply.

“It was way too corny!” Kihyun smiled and chuckled at the same time. Kihyun happy hearing those things. But it doesn’t mean he could easily believe them. Well, it was okay for Kihyun even if it was a lie.

“Hey, I’m trying here.” Hyunwoo not slightest pleased being laughed after he trying his best to utter those cheesy lines. Kihyun burst out laughing. Well, for him, Hyunwoo was always the cutest.

“Kihyun-ah,” Hyunwoo called the younger when his laugh slowed down. The break time was almost over. So Kihyun tidied up their lunch boxes and the spilled food. He hummed as a response.

“I mean it. There’s no one at fault in this relationship. If you wanted to blame anyone, blame us. If you wanted to be thankful, be thankful for both us.” Hyunwoo said as he stroked Kihyun’s hair down to his cheek. Kihyun leaned onto the touch. He liked the feeling of Hyunwoo’s palm touched his skin. Well, he always liked anything from Hyunwoo.

“So, are we going home together today?” Kihyun’s body went rigid for a moment. He agitated but nodded anyway. He smiled to wash away his own worry. Maybe it would be okay, maybe.


End file.
